Seriously Speaking
by Beautiful Taboo
Summary: Wherein Fuji and Ryoma try to get their feelings across. And fail at it. A lot. FujiRyo


**Written for** Fanfiction exchange with Milky Etoile with the prompt, _Corny pick-up lines_. Inspired by iu_fanfiction's WC #28's _Kutob_ prompt. I don't know if I made Fuji corny enough but- I hope you enjoy this nonetheless, Milky. Also, I didn't know how to incorporate the seme-uke setting since the rating for this fic would be a very innocent K+. Heehee. Special thanks to dani-chan for the beta! Also, feel free to use GoogleTranslate for some parts. Because that's what I did. LOL

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**SERIOUSLY SPEAKING**

_Dedicated to Milky Etoile._

_All disclaimers apply._

I.

The day Fuji Syuusuke fell in love was a day like any other.

It was in the middle of afternoon practice. The Regulars weren't practicing much anymore being as the tennis season had just recently ended, and they were, instead, overlooking the newbies' practices. By 'overlooking', that meant fooling around outside the courts.

At least, that was what Fuji was doing. Although he appeared to be quietly sitting under the shade of a tree, he was actually scouting for potential interesting freshmen who'd be nice to freak out with _fantastic_ stories about Tezuka – all made up, of course. He was happily surveying the group until Ryoma came in, Ponta cans in hand.

"Saa. Good afternoon, Echizen," Fuji greeted amiably, stopping in the middle of doing one of his favorite hobbies. "I was thinking that Tezuka'd put you in with them." He gestured towards the freshmen.

The freshman gave a look that confirmed Fuji's questions, and it made Fuji chuckle. "Oh, Lord. Tezuka. I could never understand his sense of justice." He looked up to meet Ryoma's eyes, and he found the boy staring at him intently.

"Can I help you?" Fuji asked, after a few seconds of silence had passed.

To his surprise, Ryoma held out a can to the tensai, his expression unreadable. "Want one?" he asked in a muffled voice. Apparently, he was eating something.

Fuji took it, and smiled. "Wow," Fuji said, staring at the can in surprise. It was a bit lukewarm. He stared at it, as the information processed in his brain. Fuji then looked up at Ryoma. The tensai's eyes were open and twinkling, with an expression of barefaced surprise. "I think I just fell in love."

Ryoma smirked, and swallowed his food. "I'm sure you did." With that, Ryoma turned and left for his usual tree to sleep the rest of the afternoon away.

Fuji leaned back as he drank, still trying to get over what he just realized.

He was not joking.

II.

"Ne, Echizen."

The young boy groaned, as he finished putting his shoes inside his locker. It was another afternoon, around a week after the Ponta incident. This time, all club activities were temporarily banned to help the students concentrate on their exams. Ryoma, however, wasn't able to review properly for the past days. It was all Fuji's fault.

Ryoma conceded to the unspoken invitation easily, as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "You should ask the other sempai, sometime."

"But they're all busy studying or at least pretending to," Fuji reasoned. "I really want to win that special prize. It's easy since we just have to eat ten consecutive times at their restaurant."

"You're gonna get fat, sempai. And you won't be able to study," Ryoma warned, as they went out of the building.

"I don't get fat. And I can ace my exams without studying."

Ryoma sighed mockingly. "I know how frustrating that must feel, sempai."

Fuji sighed back, contentedly this time. "We have so much in common that I'm actually considering professing my undying love to you right now, Echizen."

"... I won't mind."

After a few minutes of walking, Fuji stopped, and he looked at Ryoma with a troubled look on his face. "Ne, Echizen? Are you feeling forced? I mean, I suppose I really have been taking time out of your schedule..."

"Don't flatter yourself, sempai," Ryoma replied, still walking on ahead, but looking back at Fuji with a smirk on his face, "I don't go there for you; I'm going there for the ramen."

III.

"Hey, I thought we were supposed to _study_." Ryoma pushed the glasses up his nose after he put down his notebook. "You already know all these stuff."

"Uh-huh." Fuji daintily sipped from his cup of tea.

Ryoma scratched his head and frowned. "I thought you wanted to study English with me."

"I thought you needed some help."

"Sempai," Ryoma said in a deadpanned voice, "I practically grew up in America."

"Yes," Fuji replied, "_but you're not getting any practice_."

Ryoma took it as a challenge and replied with English, as well, "_I don't need practice, _Fuji-sempai_. Maybe you're the one who needs some practice_."

"_I don't need practice, either. I get straight As in English_."

Ryoma groaned in frustration. "Sempai _really doesn't want to lose, does he?_"

Fuji paused this time. Before Ryoma could complete his victory smirk, Fuji opened his mouth.

"_Ich glaube_," he began, choosing his words slowly and carefully, "_ich bin in dich verliebt_."

Ryoma stared at him for a while, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly opened. Fuji just kept smiling, and guessed that at that exact moment, Ryoma was racking his brain for other languages he knew to compete. Finally, Ryoma pounded his fist on the table and stood up.

"Fine," he spat, not meeting Fuji's eyes, as he went out of the room, "You can teach me Algebra, instead."

IV.

Fuji flunked his first exam.

It wasn't that he didn't study. Well, actually, he didn't. But it certainly wasn't because he didn't know the answers. In fact, when he took the make-up exams the afternoon after, he got a perfect score, and got all the extra points right, giving him more than a hundred percent. What actually happened was that he wrote the wrong name, which made the proctor throw it away (as per his instructions). When it got back to the teacher's hands, half of the paper was wet with juice stains.

"I won't ask," the old Biology teacher asked, sighing as he arranged the papers, with Fuji's on top. "I've seen a lot of you."

"That's very considerate of you, sensei. Thank you for letting me retake this," Fuji said politely, although he wouldn't really mind otherwise. Still, he respected the old man, and he really _did_ like Biology. "Well, I should really go ahead."

The teacher said nothing as he pushed up his glasses. He stared at his desk thoughtfully. "You see, I handle a freshman Biology class."

Fuji cocked his head, not understanding why he was being told that. "Aa..."

"There's a bright young man who's been getting good grades in my class. In fact, he reminds me a bit of you. However-"

As if on cue, someone knocked on the door, before sliding it open. Fuji's eyes widened slightly.

"Sensei, I'm here to take the make-up exam." It was Ryoma. "Oh." The boy blinked twice after seeing Fuji, and scratched his eyes, as if trying to check if he was seeing things. "It's Fuji-sempai." He glared pointedly at his teacher, as if accusing him of something.

Fuji nodded, looking from Ryoma to his teacher. The old man smiled again.

"Let's just say that you weren't the only one to write his name wrong," he whispered to Fuji quickly, before giving the older boy a slight push. Loudly this time, he announced, "Now go on ahead. Echizen-kun needs to retake his exam."

Fuji walked outside obediently, wondering if he had been blushing as hard as Ryoma was.

V.

_So you waited_.

That was the unspoken message when Fuji and Ryoma's eyes met, as soon as the boy finished his exam. He quietly put his shoes inside his locker as Fuji watched.

"Today's the tenth day of the promo, isn't it?" It was the first time Ryoma initiated the conversation. He looked up at his upperclassman, his eyes carrying more questions than what he asked.

Fuji smiled. "Uh-huh. We managed to get through it pretty well."

"So we did."

"Saa."

The two wordlessly went out of the building.

Eventually, Fuji spoke.

"For one thing," he began, "I wasn't actually going their for the prize. Or for the ramen."

Another silence came up, and they let it eat up Fuji's confession.

Finally, Ryoma said, "Me, too." He paused. "Their ramen tastes like shit."

Fuji smiled.

Ryoma smiled back.

V.

"How long were you holding on to that Ponta, seriously?" Fuji asked with a laugh. "It was so warm that it didn't taste like Ponta anymore." He paused a bit before looking at his kouhai with a smil.e "So that was your idea of starting a conversation, huh?"

"None of your business," Ryoma muttered, as he finished the last slurps of the takeout ramen in a park bench. Fuji was watching him, as he admired the two bonsai-sized cacti he just won for himself and given by Ryoma.

"You could've just, you know, offered a pick-up line or something."

"You didn't have to invite me to ramen for ten days straight." Ryoma smirked. "And sempai, _ich kann Deutsch sprechen_."

Fujis mouth fell open. It took a while before he cringed and started laughing again, this time with a tinge of embarrassment. "Touché."

When Ryoma finished drinking his water and wiping his mouth with a napkin, Fuji leaned in closer. "Although you've been really dense about them, I've been feeding you quite a few pick-up lines recently," he whispered. "Isn't it your time to give me one, too?"

Ryoma smirked. "Those aren't my thing, sempai."

With that, he pulled Fuji towards him by the collar and let their lips brush against the other. Ryoma let go of him, but not his stare. The younger boy was blushing.

Fuji got the message.

**FIN.**

I hope you enjoyed =_= I should get back to Scarlet Stain soon...


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